Don't Want To Fight Love Away
by krsw1151
Summary: Paul didn't believe in fate and he didn't think a random encounter with an old acquaintance would impact his life. Ikarishipping
1. It's Not Fate

**Chapter One**

 **It's Not Fate**

Many would claim it was fate, that there were no coincidences and everything was destined to happen at some point. A lot of people lived their lives thinking that every meeting, every goodbye, every smile and every tear happened for a reason. That the smallest, most insignificant things impacted their lives in the biggest ways possible.

Paul was not one of these people.

He didn't believe that there was some almighty force in the shadows pulling the strings. He didn't believe in things like destiny or that something from his past could impact his future in such a substantial way. He walked where he walked because he chose to. He trained how he trained because he wanted to. He battled how he battled because he needed to. Every movement, every thought and every action he did was up to him and up to him alone.

Paul walked into the Santalune City Pokemon Center just as the sun began to set. The lobby was sparse, most people leaving to get some dinner or get in some last minute training before the day ended. Just as soon as his Pokémon were checked over by Nurse Joy, Paul would take use of the practice field to prepare for his gym battle against Viola.

Nurse Joy said it would take about an hour to look over his Pokémon so Paul found himself walking outside again. He remembered seeing a vending machine there, deciding to get a drink and catch up on his reading as he waited. The machine was next to the practice field where, unfortunately, someone was occupying it. He didn't think twice about it however, they would probably be done in the next hour and if they weren't, Paul could find somewhere else to train.

But maybe it was the trainer within him that caused him to look over at the girl in the middle of the field. She stood opposite a Lopunny and was saying something to it. Then she back stepped and did something even Paul wasn't expecting.

Raising a tiny stone into the air she yelled, "Lopunny, Mega Evolve!"

Lopunny became encased by a bright light before transforming into it's Mega version. It cried its name and immediately began moving about and Paul was surprised at how fast it was.

"Lopuuny!" it's trainer called. "Use Bounce and Ice Beam simultaneously. And spin as you jump!"

Lopuuny followed it's trainer's instructions, kicking up into the air and spinning. The ice created a spiral around it that rose with the Pokémon. With the extra boost from being Mega Evolved, Loppuny soared into the air, reaching extraordinary heights. The ice caught the receding sunlight, making it glow orange and Paul was vaguely reminded of fire.

Once Lopunny had reached its peak, the trainer called out another command. "Now slide down and use Dizzy Punch behind you as you slide."

As Lopunny descended, it broke the ice into fine pieces that rained down the center of the spiral. They cascaded around Lopunny and caught the rays of the sun, making the ice look like a fire's embers. Lopunny made it to the ground and struck a finishing pose as the last bits of ice seemed to float around it.

The trainer cheered and clapped as Lopunny reverted back to it's normal form. Paul was still in a slight awe of the performance. It was obvious that the person was a coordinator(probably from Sinnoh judging by the language and accent). And while Paul was never interested in the flashy sport, he gave props to coordinators for their moves. Being able to use combinations in the heat of battle was not an easy feat.

After giving Lopunny praise, the trainer returned it to it's Pokèball and then turned around herself to head back into the Center. It was then that she noticed Paul and their eyes connected. And simultaneously they paused, eyes widening as each immediately recognized the other.

Dawn. The coordinator that traveled with Ash five years ago in the Sinnoh region.

Every so often, Paul would think about his old rival or see him competing in a League somewhere on the television. And on those occasions, he sometimes thought about the two people he hung out with, who were there almost every time he encountered Ash. He remembered Brock, the smart and mature guy, the exact opposite of Ash. And he remembered Dawn, the coordinator that talked a lot and had a short fuse.

Now that he thought about it, the two had had only one full conversation before. At the Sinnoh League when she had eavesdropped on him and Reggie's video call. The conversation had been brief but he had explained why he didn't like Ash all that much. He had expected her to jump to Ash's defense but instead she chose the middle ground. Saying that everyone was different as trainers and there was no right or wrong.

Her words had stayed with him for five years.

"Paul?" she said barely above a whisper, obviously still shell shocked that she'd run into him so many years later, in such a far away region as Kalos no less. Her mouth was slightly open and eyes huge and Paul realized he'd have to be the one to snap her out of it.

"You use Mega Evolution."

"Huh?" she blinked. Then she composed herself by laughing a little and tugged at the chain around her neck. "Yeah. I got it in Geosenge Town." She lifted the chain up, the stone shining. "Pretty cool right?"

Paul nodded, gripping his similar stone in his pocket. "Your combination was good."

For a few seconds she didn't say anything, staring at him like he had grown a second head. "You've… changed."

She said it quietly, Paul didn't think that she even realized she said it. He grunted and turned to start walking away. "That's what happens in five years."

It took a moment, maybe two but he heard her footsteps behind him until she appeared in his peripheral vision. "Sorry, I didn't mean it as a bad thing. Just… I had never imagined that i'd get a compliment out of you of all people. I don't think you ever even complimented Ash back then."

Paul didn't say anything because nothing he could say would be true.

"Thank you," she said sincerely. "It's an appeal I came up with a couple years ago but that was the first time we've ever used Mega Evolution in it. I was worried it wasn't going to work."

Paul nodded and continued walking, he knew how much changed when a Pokémon Mega Evolved. "Your Lopunny handled it well."

Dawn grinned proudly. "Yeah! It was hard at first, she wasn't used to the power surge but after a few weeks she started getting the hang of it."

Paul nodded again, not saying anything. They had made it to the front doors of the Center and Paul was about to tell her goodbye before she spoke up.

"Hey," she smiled gently. "I know we weren't friends or anything back then, but wanna get dinner with me and catch up? There's a cafe on the edge of town. My treat."

Even then, Paul would never admit that fate and destiny were real. He firmly believed that it was pure coincidence that two acquaintances from years ago would run into each other. Even if they went to dinner together one night, once the bill was paid, they would go their separate ways and maybe meet again in another five years. And if they did meet again, it would be coincidence then too.

Paul supposed one dinner between them, two people who were connected through another, would not be one of those small details that would impact the rest of his life.

"Sure." he said simply.

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 **Part 2 up tomorrow.**


	2. Don't Want To Fight Love Away

**Thank you everyone for reading this, especially to I-Am-Lu for her nice words and shout out on Tumblr. It means a lot and I'm incredibly thankful. I hope you enjoy the rest of this!**

* * *

 **Chapter Two**

 **Don't Want To Fight Love Away**

"What are we?"

A simple question. A simple question with a huge answer. Paul looked down at Dawn, standing while she sat on a bench. The boat they were waiting for was just on the horizon, a tiny black dot against the blue sky. It was the boat that would take them to Lily of the Valley Island, where Paul's last battle in claiming the Champion title was waiting to be held. The biggest battle in his life as a trainer.

A slight breeze blew Dawn's hair from it's place behind her ear but she made no move to return it. Instead she just continued to gaze at the ocean, face indiscernible.

He knew she was waiting for an answer and Paul needed to give her one. But the answer he wanted to give and the answer he was going to give were two very different things. Truth be told, he had expected this question. He supposed it was only a matter of time before she asked it. But even after mulling it over himself, he wasn't too thrilled on the reply he needed to respond with.

He crossed his arms and looked out at the boat too. "Friends."

"Is that your brain or your heart talking?"

Damn it. If there was anything he could point out as an annoying part of Dawn's personality(and there was a list), it would have to be her ability to read people. What irked him more is that he had mastered the art of hiding emotion, but Dawn in turn, had mastered the trade of seeing through facades. Paul was probably the reason she was so good at it.

She sighed and finally tucked her hair back in its place. But she still didn't look at him. "I want an honest answer Paul."

Paul narrowed his eyes. "We are friends. Nothing more, nothing less."

"That's bullshit and we both know it." Paul's eye twitched and Dawn sighed again. "We've been dancing around it for at least a year now and I want confirmation that it's not all in my head."

Silence overtook them as he absorbed her words. She wasn't wrong. It was three years ago that they met each other in Santalune City. It was three years ago that they had dinner and went their separate ways. But over the course of their time in Kalos, they had bumped into each other numerous times in numerous places. They would go out for a meal, sometimes he would pay and sometimes she would, others they would split. She would ask him for advice on how best to use a power move during a contest battle and he would ask how to do a combination that could maximize his Pokémon's potential. It was a symbiotic relationship, one helping the other. It was a balanced relationship that helped them over the next three years.

But somewhere down the line, something had changed, and it was obvious that the change was in them both. Paul was always aware that Dawn was attractive, he wasn't blind. But he had never seen her in that light. Until, of course, about a year ago.

They had been in some town in Sinnoh and Dawn was on her second contest circuit there. Their paths had crossed in that town and Paul stuck around to watch her contest, wanting to see if the tip her told her about Pachirisu's Discharge would pay off. He had the unfortunate luck of being seated next to teen who didn't know the definition of quiet.

As soon as Dawn took the stage, the kid wouldn't shut up about how pretty he thought she was. That and some other more… _crude_ things. With every word that came out of his mouth, Paul had to mentally restrain himself from doing something. He had no idea what that something would have been(he had gotten up from his seat and chose to lean against the wall in the back to watch the remainder of the contest), but he had the intense urge to physically make that kid shut his mouth.

That's where it started for him. The beginning of the end. Over the course of the past year, as each encounter with her occurred, he grew more and more certain of his feelings. It wasn't love, it was something far from that, but it was still _something_.

He had noticed that the _something_ was happening with her too. He had become increasingly aware of the blushes whenever she asked him to lunch. Or her twirling her hair around her finger whenever she listened to him speak. He heard every word or comment that could be interpreted as something else. He noticed her and it became increasingly obvious that she noticed him as well.

The people walking around them remained oblivious of the building tension between the two. The boat was getting closer which meant their departure time was inching closer. But at the same time, it felt like the clock had slowed down to Paul.

"Why now?" He asked her. "If we've been 'dancing around it' for a year now, why bring it up now?"

Dawn, as it seemed, wasn't expecting the question as she didn't answer right away. She bit her lip and looked down at her shoes, her cheeks reddening slightly. "Because…" she mumbled. "This is my last chance."

He glanced back at her with an eyebrow raised. "What do you mean?"

Dawn gripped the bench seat for a second before standing up, finally facing him and looking him in the eye. "This is the battle you've spent the last eleven years of your life preparing for. This is it for you. And I know, I _know_ that you'll beat Cynthia, there's no doubt in my mind." She sucked in a breath. "I'm scared that once you become the Champion, we'll go back to being just acquaintances who only know each other because we knew the same person." They stared at each other. Dawn averting her gaze under his intense eyes and Paul at a loss for words. "I really don't want to go back to that…" she muttered.

Paul exhaled after another breeze blew past, this one slightly stronger than the last. "It wouldn't work. We both know that."

"But we don't." Dawn locked eyes with him again, only this time they were narrowed slightly and her voice was sharper. "We have no idea if it would work if we don't try."

"And if and when it fails it'll be impossible to go back to anything." He said coldly. Her eyes widened and he immediately regretted saying it. But he firmly believed it was true. They were too different, opposite in pretty much everything. A romance between them would fail before it began.

That didn't mean he didn't want to try, but he wanted to spare her(and himself admittedly) from inevitable heartbreak.

The boats horn could be heard now but neither even seemed to register. Paul stared at her with a cold gaze, wanting this conversation to be over. And Dawn looked like she was battling something inside herself, the conflict reflecting in her eyes.

Then she did something he wasn't expecting. Just like when she rose her mega stone into the air in Santalune, he was caught off guard.

She stood on her toes and kissed him. It was light and quick, a small peck that was over in an instant. His eyes widened while hers were closed. They didn't touch except for their lips.

She pulled away and went back to being flat footed on the ground. Her eyes opened again and found his, both of the their faces dusted pink. "I'm willing to fight if you are Paul."

Then she bowed her head and walked away, mumbling something about getting a lemonade from the stand.

Paul stood there stupidly before he snapped himself out of it and turned around to watch her leave. Emotions he had never felt before were beginning to swirl to the surface and that feeling of _something_ became all too real.

He still didn't believe in fate. Nothing would ever make him think otherwise. But he supposed that this was a detour from his beliefs. He wasn't willing to change his course entirely but was okay with going down the untraveled path.

He watched Dawn bend down and pick up a rattle that a baby had dropped, giving the child and mother her trademark smile. Without even realizing it, a tiny smile appeared on Paul's face. He changed his gaze to the boat that was inching closer, the boat that would lead him, and her, to the next step.

If she was willing to fight against the inevitable, he had no choice but to step up to the challenge himself. He wasn't gonna let her fight this battle alone.

And it would take awhile, but that feeling of _something,_ would bloom into something far more powerful.

 **End**

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 **Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed!**


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